Physics
Scientific paper
May 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007sptz.prop40240v&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #40240
Physics
Scientific paper
Massive stars have an unparalleled effect on galaxy evolution, since their strong stellar winds and the inevitable supernovae input energy and chemical elements into the interstellar medium. O-type stars are thought to evolve through, possibly the red supergiant phase, and the luminous blue variable phase to become H-poor Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, before explosion. Due to their high luminosity, the presence of WRs can be detected in the integrated spectra of galaxies, and the short duration of these post-main-sequence evolutionary phases makes WRs, in particular, excellent probes of very recent star formation, metallicity, and the initial mass function in the nearby Universe. Unfortunately, the number of known WRs in the Milky Way is deficient by 4 to 10 times, depending on the models, and as a result we know relatively little about the total massive star formation and the fate of massive stars in our own Galaxy. This is due to the rapid increase with distance of the line-of-sight extinction, due to dust in the Galactic Plane, where evolved massive stars are located and hidden. Detecting new evolved massive stars is greatly enhanced in the infrared, where extinction is substantially lower. Therefore, we wish to continue a successful archival project, where we will merge 2MASS with the data products from the Spitzer Legacy programs that observed in the Galactic Plane (GLIMPSE, GLIMPSE-II, GLIMPSE-3D, MIPSGAL, MIPSGAL-II). This provides a powerful means of identifying hidden, evolved massive stars in the Plane. We have already discovered about 200 such stars, including 21 previously unknown WRs, based on the merged near-IR/mid-IR color space, as a result of our Cycle-2 archival program.
Morris Patrick W.
van Dyk Schuyler
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